‘bad For Business’: Homeless Hot Spots In Fort Lauderdale Not A Good Look, Critics Say

Local entrepreneurs have a message for Fort Lauderdale: The city’s homeless crisis is bad for business — and getting worse. The complaints take on a new urgency in light of a new state law that bans homeless people from sleeping in public. The new law, which goes into effect in October, also paves the way for critics to file lawsuits against local governments starting next year if they fail to enforce the ban. Bernie Bedor, a business owner in northern Fort Lauderdale, says he has sent email after email to City Hall, begging Fort Lauderdale officials to do something about the city’s ongoing homeless problem. “We take investors down to the beach and they see homeless people in tents,” Bedor told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.